* 2:00 PM: Elliott Bay Book Company hosts Christina Pratt, author of An Encyclopedia of Shamanism. [LINK]

* 2:00 PM: “If you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes,” is something Seattle-ites say a lot. Why? Why is our weather so messed up? Cliff Mass, UW atmospheric scientist and radio personality explains it all in his book The Weather of the Pacific Northwest. Finally! He’ll be at SPL Central Library, Level 1, Microsoft Auditorium, to answer our burning, freezing, and rain-drenched questions. Mass says, “The weekend looks generally dry (a few light showers perhaps in the north half of the state) and cloudy. Highs in the mid 50s.” Shocking. [LINK]

* 2:00 PM: The Ballard Branch Library hosts local author Michael Schein. He’ll be reading and signing Just Deceits: a Historical Courtroom Mystery. Strangely, I can’t find any holdings at SPL, so don’t expect to be able to check out the book from the Library. Schein is director of LitFuse Poets’ Workshop. Sponsored by Secret Garden Bookshop. [LINK]

* 3:00 PM: Local science fiction/fantasy author David Page will be at the Northgate B&N to talk about his latest novel, Mithras Court: A Novel of the Mists. [LINK]

* 4:00 PM: Travel writer Rolf Potts has travelled back in time from the future to talk about his book Marco Polo Didn’t Go There: Stories and Revelations from One Decade as a Postmodern Travel Writer, at Elliot Bay Book Company. Ask him how! [LINK]

* 5:30 PM: Michael Eric Dyson, author of a ton of books on race and class, is hosted at Mount Zion Baptist Church (1634 19th Ave, Seattle) by the Bush School and Seattle King County NAACP for a lecture entitled “Power, Justice, Freedom: Vote!” The election may be over, but the topic lives on. And can I just take a moment to say, “Yes, we can!” WOOT! I’m finally recovered from the almost debilitating relief. [LINK]

* 7:30 PM: Leslie Walker Williams, author of The Prudent Mariner, yet another novel of the American South, will read and sign at Elliott Bay Books. How many gripping, wise, lucid, inventive, evocative novels of the American South have been written and published to date? Way, way too many. [LINK]

I’ve been charged with posting some photos of tonight’s impromptu party on Capitol Hill: Broadway and Pike: celebrating Obama’s victory. I spoke to the SPD on my way home and they said they were going to let the party burn out on it’s own (unless it turned violent), so expect it to continue going until the beer runs out. There were probably in excess of 1,000 people celebrating at this one intersection on the hill, undoubtedly after part of the 1st and Pike crowd joined the crowd.

pike & first avenue.

Dear Seattle,

My appreciation for having lived in a city that, upon receiving word of these election results, bursts into spontaneous dance in clubs under cable new feeds, stages impromptu parades, shuts down intersections with song and dance and celebration, engages in spontaneous hugs with strangers, raises hands in celebratory high fives on sidewalks, and generally glows with the relief of having seen the rest of the country correct a serious mistake cannot be overstated. It is only tonight, having experienced the collective glow of a bar, neighborhood, city in celebration that I realize how living here together, sharing the burden, has ameliorated the last long years. For that, and for tonight, and for the time to come, I thank you deeply and most sincerely.

This is pretty good, right?

This sounds like an excellent idea to me: on Thursday, between 5 and 10 pm, the menu at all of CHOW Foods’ restaurants will be priced according to the DOW at the closing of the market. In an email yesterday, they explained the deal: “The lower the Dow closes on Thursday, the less your entrée costs–no food on the menu will be priced more than the Dow. If it closes at 8300 (gulp!) then you wont pay any more than $8.30 for any item on our food menus. If Chowin’ on the DOW isn’t enough to whet your appetite, keep in mind that our house red & white wine, draft beers and well drinks will be priced at the NASDAQ close for the day. If it dips to 1250, then our depression era pricing on these libations will be just a buck twenty five!”

Insert all sorts of comments about main streets and bailouts and Joe Sixpack here, if you want. CHOW’s restaurants are The 5 Spot in Queen Anne, Atlas Foods in U Village, Mioposto in Mount Baker, Coastal Kitchen in Capitol Hill, Endolyne Joe’s in West Seattle, and The High Life in Ballard, which covers pretty much all of Seattle, so there’s got to be one nearby. At least we can all get something good out of the awful market.

PSMS is hosting their annual wild mushroom show this Saturday and Sunday (October 11 and 12) at The Center for Urban Horticulture (CUH) (UW). There will be over 200 varieties of wild mushrooms on display, and visitors are welcome to bring in samples from their yards for identification. From the website:

Program:
* Hundreds of species of freshly gathered local wild mushrooms.
* Fresh specimens identified by name and displayed in a natural setting.
* Featured Speaker: Dr. Else Vellinga
* Mushroom Identification: bring your own.
* Cooking Demonstrations featuring local chefs with samples to taste.
Special Guest Chef: Kathy Casey.
* Books, field guides, posters and gifts.
* Displays of mushroom cultivation, conservation, mushrooms & ecology, photography, and arts and crafts.

Admission:
* $7 for General Admission
* $5 for Students and Seniors,
* Children under 12 are free

Good Morning WaMu J P Morgan Chase customers [wsj], here’s hoping that you can find a tiny bit of humor in this utterly ill-conceived photo that accompanies the login to your accounts:

(via what i learned today)

photo by M.V. Jantzen [flickr] via our group pool [#]

• Since Samantha posted about David’s increasingly famous photos of the interior of the Crocodile this morning, there have been tons of developments, mainly by Hannah Levin who has been all over the scoop early and often with tidbits from Kerri Harrop [reverb]. Elsewhere, LineOut played catch-up and got some photos of the gutted interior [lineout], and Times filed a late-breaking hastily-compiled dispatch with quotes from Harrop, Pete Greenberg, and Steven Severin with a few more details on the record. [times]. The main things you need to know are: new decorations, pizza, music, Jim, and early 2009.
• Just in time for Autumn, the city plans to ease up on outdoor dining permit hoops. [belltowner]
• Remember car-free Sundays? The final installation was entirely less disastrous than the first. [p-i]
• Another week, another music fest. This time, Oktoberfest in Fremont in September. [nwmb]
• Ask a silly question, get a snarky answer. Business as usual. [seattle.lj]
• Mayor Nickels speaks for the trees. [rainiervalleypost]
• The reason you couldn’t get a pie last night? Pagliacci employees were rocking out for cash money. [lineout]
• Belltown’s newest hottest power couple revealed? [subterfugeseattle]
• “Barracudagate” continues; some royalties heading to Obama. [idolator]

One of the best end of summer celebrations in town is the Seattle Tilth Harvest Fair. This year’s theme is “celebrate local food,” and they have a little something for everyone, including:

• Live music all day long - don’t miss Family Square Dance with Charmaine Slaven calling (1:15pm.)
• City chickens, mini-dairy goats, and Master Beekeeper David Mc Bride.
• Free workshops, including “Why Compost is HOT”, “From Local to Global: Sustainable Food Choices,”  a wild edible plant walk, and more.
• Kid’s activities, including face painting, garden crafts, worm bin exploration, and a parade at noon.
• An organic farmer’s market (Tilth is home to the original Seattle farmer’s market.)
• A “community village” where you can learn about your local non-profits.

The harvest fair is always a fun time, and I’ve had the honor of working with Tilth this year to coordinate the community village participants, so I know it’s going to be great this year! Hope to see you there!

photo by jwalsh on Flickr

As we all know, Bumbershoot can’t go on forever. Below, find some suggestions on how to plot out your last day of the festival (a.k.a. Death Cab Come Home Day) before it even begins. TIP: don’t forget to get an elephant ear. It’s the end of the summer and you haven’t had even one yet, have you? Don’t spend the long dark winter dwelling on regrets, OK?

As usual, glance through the official lineup and don’t hesitate to loudly tell us what we forgot to mention.

All the picks (and, at least one pan), after the jumpcut.

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In just two days, Bumbershoot takes on Seattle for another epic showdown of endurance and sensory overload. The festival at Seattle Center is a sprawling, multi-headed beast of entertainment and memory-making fun. We fired up the Recommend-o-Tron and collected a list of suggestions from Team Metblogs to help you sort through the overstuffed lineup to make the most of the long weekend. Be sure to fill the comments letting us know what we missed, what we should skip, and what you’re most excited to see.

All Weekend:

One Reel Film Festival : No matter what time you stop in for the series of short film programs SIFF is showing all festival long, you’re bound to see some excellent filmmaking. Today’s highlights include Films4Families at 1:00pm and Cuisine Art at 7:00pm. Short films made for children have a way of appealing to everyone, regardless of age, and how could a series of films about food be anything other than tasty? [zee] SIFF Cinema, 12:00 - 9:00 pm

One Pot: This may be your best chance to get something really good to eat at Bumbershoot. Dinner is at 6pm each night; go to onepotbumbershoot.blogspot.com for details. [jameson] 6:00 pm, NW Rooms.

ON THE RADIO: KEXP’s annual broadcast from an undisclosed location deep in the heart of Seattle Center will bring you live performances from a diverse selection of the weekend’s darlingest bands. A few lucky people who signed-up ahead of time will be able to watch for themselves, but everyone can tune in to get a taste of Bumbershoot from the comfort of their own home. [kexp]

VISUAL ARTS: All exhibitions are open 11:00 am to 8:00 pm all three days. Highlights include:

the Power of One : A series of photographs that illustrate the powerful impact a single person can have on global society, featuring works by Charles and Ray Earnes, Nina Berman, Phil Borges, Katharina Mouratidi and Jackie Renin; several of the artists will be on hand during the exhbiition. [zee] NW Rooms

FLATSTOCK 18: Your walls are looking a little empty, Seattle. The country’s best rock poster artists fill the Fisher Pavillion with the artistic ephemera created to advertise shows by your favorite bands. While you’re sure to swoon over the Seattle–Tehran poster show in the NW rooms, you can both adore and buy the ones here. Set aside a healthy budget, plenty of time, and a place to stow your purchases. The show runs all weekend, but the best stuff has a way of selling out early. [josh/samantha/zee]

Saturday-specific picks after the jump.

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